editor's viewpoint
Published: 16 March, 2006
This week sees one of the first centre openings of the year, with phase one of Henry Boot Developments' Ayr Central welcoming shoppers.
Ayr Central began life as a retail park pure and simple, but its central location only yards from the high street began to attract interest from mainstream retailers and it's gone though a radical redesign. Double-height units and large floorplates still bear the hallmarks of a retail park, but underground car parking and an open-air mall format are firmly in the shopping centre tradition.
The scheme shows how the edges are blurring between out-of-town and mainstream retailing. In our fashion parks feature Henderson's Andrew Friend points out that retailers no longer draw a distinction between the two. And investors clearly don't either. The leading players out-of-town are British Land, Henderson and Capital & Regional all of whom are prominent in shopping centres.
So if retailers don't draw a distinction, and investors don't, why do we still have two trade bodies representing the town centre and out-of-town sectors?
BCSC President John Strachan is already making noises about extending BCSC's reach into retail parks. And there is logic to this. But the sector is already well-represented by Accessible Retail.
AR is seen as being closer to its grass roots membership than BCSC. It is also a slick lobbying operation. And it's growing too, following a recent merger with the Shopping Park Investors' Forum.
There is logic in the industry speaking with one voice. Time for the two to start talking?
